Manteca's Information & Opinion Blog
We are the Unified People's Voice of Manteca.
Our mission is to provide every citizen with the opportunity to educate themselves with the truth.
Unified People's Voice of Manteca
We are a group of hard working Manteca citizens seeking honest, transparent leadership, for the greater good of our family city. We work, live, and play here. We raise our children and care for our elderly parents here. We utilize city services, pay taxes, and invest in our local economy. Our mission is to provide every citizen with the opportunity to educate themselves with the truth.
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Stay tuned to the dated sections on this page below, as we will continue to bring updates throughout the month of October and November up until election day!
Manteca's Mayoral Candidates
Who are they, what are their qualifications, and what are their backgrounds? What is their 4 year plan for Manteca, and how do they plan to accomplish it facing the legal and financial roadblocks we have today? Who is on their staff, what organizations endorse them, and why? We had the opportunity to speak with each candidate, click on their picture to get more information on each of them.
Manteca Mayoral Election 2022 - Unofficial Poll Results
This poll was open on this website from October 2nd through October 6th. Below are the results of the individual votes cast on this website. Please note: 7 votes were not counted in this tally as they were cast from the same IP address all within 90 seconds of each other.
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Editorial Opinion Blog Follows Below - Check Back Often for Updated Content
10/6/2022
Complaint Filed with FPPC - Larson's Shady Finances
A sworn complaint was filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission this afternoon following months-long concerns about Larson's campaign finances going substantively unanswered. The complaint is made following a reasonable and diligent search for all identified information. The allegations are:
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Mrs. Larson's fundraising through GoFundMe began approximately one month prior to the formation of her committee, and likely predates the establishment of the statutorily required separate, identified bank account for campaigns. Funds may not be intermingled.
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Mrs. Larson's GoFundMe allows donors to donate completely anonymously, which allows individuals to evade the cap placed on campaign donations.
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Mrs. Larson's GoFundMe does not collect the required information to keep records required by the state on campaign finances.
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Individuals have donated to the campaign with fictitious names such as "FU Larson" and "Richard Bishop4815820347388181."
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Mrs. Larson has not filed the required donor and expenditure disclosures leading up to the election as required by statute. The first disclosure must be filed within 45 days of the election and no later than 40 days preceding it. The election is in 33 days.
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Mrs. Larson's scant reporting does not list donor's employers. This provision of the statute is important because companies may try to covertly donate to campaigns by giving employees money and instructing them to make the donations.
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The Larson campaign, which claims to bring transparency to Manteca's local government, has been anything but when it comes to her campaign finances. This formal, sworn complaint will force the California Fair Political Practices Commission to launch an investigation into her scandalous lack of transparency of the source of her campaign finances. On the paperwork that Larson did file on August 9th, 2022, her Form 700 - Statement of Economic Interests, Larson states she has "No reportable interest on any schedule." Reportable interest would include Real Estate, Income, Loans, Business Positions, etc...
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Larson is basically stating she has NO income, NO assets, NO investments, and is receiving NO special interest group funding. One would have to assume that someone who manages her personal finances so inappropriately, would have no place overseeing the management of our City's funds. Not to mention her "GoFundMe" fundraiser campaign for Mayor, is borderline illegal since she:
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Began collecting funds prior to the formation of her committee,
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Missed the donor and expenditure disclosure filing deadline, and
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Is accepting anonymous donations or donations under fictitious names.
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All that aside, "Mrs. Transparent", just one month prior, completed an Interfamily Transfer Deed of her real estate property to her Husband, Joseph Larson. This could possibly be construed as intentionally hiding assets. Larson would like to sit and point fingers and accuse Cantu and Singh of "conflict of interest", "insider trading" (we're still chuckling at her use of that term), and personal financial gain from their City Counsel seats, while she herself is intentionally underreporting or hiding income and assets, which is not only against the California Fair Political Practices, but can be considered a fraud.
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In all honesty, with everything that's been revealed about Larson and her campaign manager in the last few weeks, this criminal type pattern of behavior is sadly no longer surprising, as this type of behavior from Larson seems to go back as far as the early 90's.
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10/5/2022
Larson Accusation Backfires
This may get confusing, so bear with us, if you're already aware of Larson's accusation, skip to the grey section immediately below this...
At the City Counsel meeting held on the evening of Tuesday, October 4th, Larson's public comment card was the first called for floor time to address the Counsel. Larson claims that she received a "hand delivered anonymous letter" alleging that "Gary Singh used his position on the SJCOG and the Manteca City Counsel to encourage the City of Manteca to take a loan that would benefit Gary's father and his associate who's business own a property on Austin Road".
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Larson goes on to quote a November 2019 Manteca Bulletin article stating that "CalTrans has been trying to eliminate all ramps at the Austin Road / 99 interchange for many years as Austin Road is way too close to the Manteca 99/120 bypass for smooth operational flows for merging traffic. The SJCOG noted the state has only been willing to fund a two lane replacement bridge, as they do not pay for growth inducing capacity. Therefore, SJCOG advanced the City of Manteca the money to build a four lane overcrossing with turn lanes, and that the City would eventually reimburse SJCOG."
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Larson's "anonymous letter" goes on to state CalTrans said they would repave parts of Austin Road, "near where Gary's father and associate own property", for free. Larson claims that Singh insisted that instead of repaving the two lane road, Austin Road be widened to four lanes near this new overpass.
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Larson claims this was a "conflict of interest" as Gary used "insider trading" information to purchase the property and eventually profit, being the only one in the know about the upcoming overpass expansion and Austin Road widening.
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There's only one problem with Larson's claim. The overpass expansion at Auston Road has been a public ongoing battle for 25 years. It's been no secret nor "inside information". It was something Steve DeBrum had worked on for 20 years, and when DeBrum wasn't re-elected, the ball then fell in Gary's court for the last 5 years. An article in the Manteca Bulletin dated May 10th, 2019, (well over a month and a half BEFORE Gary's father and his associate purchased the property on Austin Road), discusses in great detail, the aspects of the widening project, including the details of the 4 lane overpass, Austin Road, 99 interchange on and off ramps, and the expansion of the overpass to include Moffat Blvd and the train tracks. This will, in-fact, be Manteca's first road that passes up, over, under, or any which way to completely eliminate an in-town train crossing. Something Larson proposes to do with million dollar tunnels under the city, but has no concept of how train elevation or slope actually work, and also can't account for where the money would come from to do this.
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The push from Singh to widen Austin Road near the new four lane overpass in lieu of CalTrans' "free repaving", was the right call for any City Council member to make who would have Manteca's best interest at heart. Have you ever seen a 4 lane overpass or underpass that end into a two lane stretch? Talk about a bottle neck! We already complain about how it now takes 30 minutes to get through Main and Yosemite because we installed decorative planters instead of a third and fourth lane. I don't know about you, but I personally traverse the Moffat / Austin Road / 99 interchange twice daily on my weekday commute to and from work. Some days traffic is backed up as far as Woodward and Atherton waiting to get through that interchange. That's a full 3/4 of a mile of backed up one lane traffic. Imagine how worse it would be with this new, optimal flowing on/off ramps and bridge, that just dump into a two way road.
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Don't even get me started on the definition of "insider trading", an SEC term for illegal or unfair profits made on trading stocks. I'm insulted Larson would think that throwing around buzz words at a live streamed City Council meeting would peak interest and make the general public think something is happening, that clearly wasn't.
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The ironic part is the very article from the Bulletin she quoted in her public comment to the counsel, is the article that lead to the information proving there was no foul play... Ouch.
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10/3/2022
Larson Accused of Falsifying Records
In 1994, while working as a Tracy Municipal Court Clerk, Larson (then Varletta) was accused of falsifying employee records in order to assist in promoting a temporary employee to a permanent position. She claimed to be innocent, however, she was fired after an administrative hearing for this offense. Larson then turned around in January of 1995 and filed an affirmative action lawsuit against San Joaquin County.
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It appears as though Larson has a long standing history of wasting taxpayer dollars on these types of frivolous lawsuits, claiming to be some sort of victim instead of just owning up to her own wrongdoings. See her criminal history section below. Is this the type of person we want as the Mayor of Manteca? Can we trust someone who (allegedly) falsifies employee documents, is terminated, and then files a lawsuit claiming racial discrimination? If she genuinely was discriminated against, we are sympathetic to her, however, her long standing track record of these types of civil encounters and waste of taxpayer funds lead us to believe otherwise.
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We encourage you to take the time to read the three links referenced in this section, do your research, and form your own opinion. We just want to see the voters knowledgeable and informed.
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10/2/2022
Manteca Pumpkin Fair Interviews
We had the opportunity to speak with each of the three candidates at the Sunrise Kiwanis's Manteca Pumpkin Fair over the weekend of October 1st and 2nd. The conversations were positive in nature, pleasant, and informative. We asked each candidate the same series of questions. Below is a paraphrased summary of their responses.
Question 1: You have a vision and a plan to address some of the biggest issue facing Manteca today. How do you intend to deal with roadblocks and pushback? We've heard campaign promises made before and then seen little to no action on those promises. How will you push through the barriers in order to get things done once in office?
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Cantu: I have 40 years of connections to the City and the County, I have ways to get things done!
Singh: I am constantly out there working on projects with the City and the County, I have a solid background in business and know how to negotiate to get our needs fulfilled. I'm not afraid nor back down when there's legislature or red tape in order to successfully push an initiative through to completion.
Larson: Cantu and Singh have done nothing in the last four years. I have 7 principals that I am running on. (Larson pointed to her "Make Manteca a Great Place" literature outlining her 7 fundamentals, which can also be found on her website.)
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Question 2: How do you intend to deal with Manteca's financial issues. How will you obtain the funds needed to get things done, to make the changes that Manteca needs?
Cantu: The money is just not there, because of previous administrations that we're still paying for, there's no choice but to raise taxes if you want to fund some of these initiatives. Gary wants to negotiate, but once you start doing that you start sacrificing things and deviate from your original initiative.
Singh: I'm a numbers man, I believe strongly in the numbers. I have a plan to negotiate with the County, as currently homeowners taxes are split 80% County 20% City. That means if you pay $5,000 a year real estate tax, $4,000 of it goes to the County. That's absurd. Other Cities in other Counties have a 50/50 split. I intend to fight the County to have that adjusted to a 50/50 split. This would immediately fund 9 new full-time Officers without the taxpayer ever seeing any change in their pocketbook. As a contingency plan, looking at the 1/2 cent sales tax increase of Measure M that's been in place since 2006, I would move to increase that another 1/4 of a cent to 3/4 of a cent total. Again I have done the numbers and this would immediately fund 9 new full-time Officers. I have other plans in place as well... (at this point we chose to cut Gary off in the interest of time as we had approached right when his lunch had arrived.)
Larson: (Larson did not answer the financial question directly but continued to discuss the lack of success by Cantu and Singh.)
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Question 3: What are your plans to fill the position for a "permanent" City Manager, as we currently have an "interterm acting" manager?
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Cantu: Toni is doing a great job, we will go to the regional level and encourage Toni to apply for the "permanent" position.
Singh: We need to make our City more attractive to attract the best of the best. We also need to have a stable staff in place. No one highly qualified is going to want to apply before elections when they don't know who they're going to be working with. After the elections, they'll know who they will be working with for the next two years. Toni is doing a great job, but right now we need the best of the best to implement some real change for Manteca.
Larson: We are paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $120k for an Assistant City Manager and $240k for an Interim City Manager. (These were Larson's numbers, not referenced, we are unsure the accuracy of those numbers.) We need to eliminate to two positions and combine the salary into one position, and for $360k get someone who can turn this city around. We should find that person at the regional level. (See the below section entitled "Who is Frank...", we have a concern that Lei Ann, if elected, might appoint Mr. Aquila as City Manager.)
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Again, please bear in mind that only the key points from each candidate's answer is paraphrased above. For further details, we encourage you to attend the candidate's events and ask questions. Please educate and inform yourselves for yourselves Manteca!
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For any corrections, please contact us immediately utilizing the contact methods posted on this website.
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9/30/2022
RPOA - Larson and Aquila's Fake Organization?
Just days after the announcement that the Manteca Police Officers Association (MPOA) and the Manteca Firefighters Local 1874 endorse Gary Singh for Mayor, a new organization was formed. The "Retired Peace Officers Association in Manteca" (RPOA) was created with a similar acronym, in a blatant and arrogant attempt to mislead and trick the public. This organization was formed "solely for the purpose of endorsing Larson", attempting to counter the actual endorsement from Manteca Police and Fire. The "sketchy looking website out of San Francisco", as Retired Manteca Police Chief Dave Bricker referred to it, was thrown together with minimal effort and published on 9/14/2022. There are no actual active or retired personnel who have served in Manteca amongst their organization. The organization is comprised of a retired peace officer or two that have served elsewhere, and now reside in Manteca. They have no affiliation with any Manteca Police or Fire, neither active nor retired.
It's just plain downright insulting to think that we'd fall for the same type of tactics used by scammers claiming to be Nigerian Royalty wanting to give away their fortune, if only we send them the processing fee of $1,000 first. If this is the type of deceptive behavior we can come to expect from Larson and Aquila should she get elected, may God help us all.
9/28/2022
Lei Ann's Criminal History
Lei Ann Larson runs her campaign on the basis that Gary Sing has a criminal record and Ben Cantu has done nothing with his four years in office, while touting her own history as "conviction free". It's difficult to get actual answers out of Mrs. Larson about who she is and where she came from. Little is known about her other than she's been a resident of Manteca for 11 years. This prompted various members to search the internet to try to discover any information, other than what she has posted on her website, about who she is and what she stands for. It appears that while technically she is accurate in stating she's "conviction free", she indeed does have a criminal record of her own.
All of the following information is public record and found using an internet search engine. It appears that Lei Ann Larson, then, Lei Ann Varletta-Young, was arrested on May 9th, 2011 for FELONY Custodial Interference in Maricopa County, Arizona. The charges were eventually dismissed on May 22, 2013, after two years of court proceedings including multiple trials, however, the final order resulted in sole legal custody of the minor child involved in the incident being awarded to father, Scott Joseph Sakry, with visitation time being granted to the mother, Lei Ann Varletta-Young.
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While we are sympathetic to Lei Ann's circumstances at the time, this information is relevant for two reasons. 1) Lei Ann is misleading when attacking Gary Singh for having a criminal record and her having none. 2) In all the public record we were able to find, Lei Ann never provides an actual defense for her criminal charge that we are able to decipher. Instead what we see is roughly two years of litigation where Lei Ann continually attempts to have the case dismissed on technicalities, accusing the court of not having jurisdiction, or that the court's custody decision was an abuse of discretion. This is important because it aligns with her statements today, how, in our opinion, she never fully "addresses the question" and instead "verbally dances around it and circles back to mud slinging towards her opponents".
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The full details of the final court's order, including the above stated "word play and technicalities", can be read here.
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We urge you to lookup the facts for yourself and educate yourself in order to make an informed decision.
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Gary Singh on the other hand, has been 100% transparent, open, and honest about his record. The sting operation conducted by the DEA, where in 2006 his store sold more than the allowed amount of Sudafed medication by a new law that was about to go into effect limiting the amount that could be purchased in a single transaction. Gary and his family, being threatened with revoking citizenship and thus facing deportation, agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge. There were, unfortunately, very racist undertones the Singh family had to endure during this time, and it's believed by some, to be the driving factor behind being targeted by the DEA. Read more about the specifics of the incident here, or approach Singh and ask him yourself, as he's always been 100% open and honest about this nightmare the Singh family had to endure.
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9/26/2022
Who is Frank / Antonio Aquila?
Frank Aquila, who also uses the pseudonym "Antonio Aquila" seems to speak on behalf of Lei Ann Larson on social media, including Facebook and on the Nextdoor App. He claims he's advised Mrs. Larson, at times, to stay off social media so that she can focus on her campaign. He then fields and answers questions from concerned citizens to Lei Ann on her behalf. Who is he and why does he answer for her?
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We fear that Lei Ann, if elected, would immediately appoint Mr. Aquila as City Manager.
From what we have collectively found on the internet and seen on social media, it is our opinion that Frank is most likely Lei Ann's campaign manager, and first pick for City Manager if elected as Mayor. Frank regularly harasses, degrades, calls names, and then blocks on social media, anyone with any level of intelligence or individual thought. When Frank is repeatedly referred to as Lei Ann's campaign manager, Lei Ann makes no statements to the contrary. Therefore we believe that who he is and what he stands for, align with Lei Ann's morals and values as well, as he acts as her official spokesperson.
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It has never been disputed by Lei Ann Larson that the views, opinions, and statements made by Frank "Antonio" Aquila do not represent her views as well.
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This is who we have found Frank "Antonio" Aquila to be based on his public postings on social media. All of these images can be found publicly across the internet. We will let these images speak for themselves... (Warning, some of them contain very graphic speech)
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